March reading wrap up

March had me feeling optimistic, with Spring in the air and loosening of Covid restrictions to look forward to. I really made a conscious effort last month to *try* and spend less time mindlessly scrolling on my phone and more time reading. It sort of worked? I read 6 books last month: some great, and some really not great at all (and some in between).
I've reached the point now where my TBR is fully out of control. I'm hoping to move in the next year or so and I've just officially run out of room on my shelves. So the next few months are going to look a lot like picking up books that have been staring at me waiting to be read for years, and a lot less like buying new exciting books. I tried to start this declutter halfway through March and hopefully by the end of the year I'll have a lot fewer books that I need to pack up and move. 
I'm going to start things off with my kindle reads (that totally aren't helping with cutting down on shelf space, but were both good reads this month).

From Twinkle with Love by Sandhya Menon - 4/5 stars
I love Sandhya Menon's books - she writes YA romances so well, and I'm determined to read everything she's written. Having said that, this was my least favourite of hers that I've read so far, though it wasn't actually because of her writing. Twinkle is a teenage inspiring filmmaker who's convinced that making her film will finally make her popular and get her the guy she wants. When things don't go to plan, Twinkle is forced to reassess who she is and who she wants to be. 
I struggled with this because it was a bit of a jarring mirror to how I sometimes behaved as a teen, and not in a nice way. As always with Menon's writing, the romance was great and the book was gripping, but I just found it a little tough going.
Ten Days by Gillian Slovo - 3/5 stars
Written after the London riots and taking inspiration from them, the book is set over 10 days and follows riots that occur after police kill a vulnerable man whilst trying to restrain him. The book focuses on several key characters: a woman in the community impacted by the riots, the Prime Minister, the Home Secretary and the Met police commissioner. 
It was a really great insight into the politics behind the decisions made around riots, but I struggled with some parts that felt slow and some of the male main characters didn't feel very distinct.
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng - 4/5 stars
I watched the TV show before reading the book for this one and if I'm honest, I think I preferred the show, but both were great. Set in an American suburb, this tells the story of what happens when a single mum moves into the close knit community and engages with a wealthy family. Entangled in the complex relationships between the two families is another family story: that of a Chinese woman trying to get custody for her baby who is soon to be adopted by a white family. 
This book was really great at discussing taboo and often neglected subjects like abortion, surrogacy, interracial adoptions, and rich privilege. 
House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Maas - 5/5 stars (pr sample)
After loving the ACOTAR series so much I was really worried that I wouldn't like this as much, or that it would just feel a bit like a cheap imitation of the series. Thankfully it was very different, and I loved it. Half-human half-fae Bryce Quinlan has her world shattered when tragedy strikes close to home. Grieving and confused about what exactly happened, Bryce is still lost when she's asked to pair up with Hunt Athalar (aka the Shadow of Death, a brute of a man) to find the culprits from that disastrous night, and work out exactly what's going on. 
It's hard to say too much without spoilering a big part of the plot, but this was a very intense book. The first 100 pages or so are a bit of a slog because they contain so much world building, but the book just gets better and better, and the author spent the last 200 pages or so repeatedly stomping on my heart. 
Crampton Hodnet by Barbara Pym - 1/5 stars
This was a tough read for me. It was written in the 1930s, which is a period that I struggle to read most books from, and centres around a small not-so-idyllic town in the Oxford countryside. The characters are pretty much parodies of what they should be: a spinster happy to stay alone, a clergyman struggling with celibacy, a wife who doesn't react to her husband's affair, a professor in a relationship with his student. All under the guise of a 'normal' life in a 'normal' town. There just wasn't enough plot for me. The characterisation was interesting, but I just didn't enjoy the book at all.
Into the Water by Paula Hawkins - 3/5 stars
Written by the author of The Girl on the Train, this book didn't live up to the author's debut in my opinion, but it was still a good crime novel. Set in a small town renowned for the body of water in contains, and the 'Drowning Pool' within that, the book is based around the deaths of several women in the pool over centuries. Most recently deceased is Nel, a woman who jumps into the drowning pool off a cliff, but her sister doesn't believe this is the truth. The book delves into the stories of the other lost women, trying to decipher exactly what happens at the pool. 
My main issue with the book is that it just wasn't very gripping. It seemed as though you were meant to believe that Nel had committed suicide, and the suggestion that she hadn't should add tension to the book, but the fact that the book was a thriller based around her death made it obvious that it was murder.
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